Private funeral has been held for Duke of Westminster

The funeral of billionaire landowner the Duke of Westminster has taken place, his family said.

A “quiet private” service was held on Friday for Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor, the sixth duke, after he died of a heart attack aged 64.

A close friend of the Royal Family, he died on Tuesday afternoon at the Royal Preston Hospital after being transferred from his Abbeystead Estate in Lancashire.

In a statement, the Grosvenor Estate said: “A quiet private funeral service, attended only by close family members, was held this afternoon, Friday August 12, for the Duke of Westminster who died on Tuesday August 9 2016.”

No more details of the service – including its location – were released but it said a memorial service would be held later this year.

It is understood that no members of the royal family attended the service.

The landowner was worth around $10.8 billion (£8.3 billion), according to Forbes, making him the 68th richest person in the world, and third in the UK.

He owned 190 acres in Belgravia, adjacent to Buckingham Palace and one of London’s most expensive areas, as well as thousands of acres in Scotland and Spain.

Due to the rule of primogeniture, his dukedom has passed to his third-born child, with Hugh Grosvenor, at the age of 25, leapfrogging both his older sisters, Lady Tamara and Lady Edwina.